Let's get to the bottom of our UK Dealers!

Asking to poll the best used car dealer, is a bit like asking who's the best estate agent. You'll get lots of ill-informed predjudice against people that they've never done business with. Perhaps a better guide is longevity. How long had a business been trading Fcars is at least a guide to whether they're reputable. Admittedly this discriminates against new entrants.

Why people are so obssessed by who owns the dealers stock is a mystery to me ("They don't even own the cars"). If I could sell a car (I'm not a dealer) on commission of, say, 5-10% with no stock holding costs, why on earth would I want to buy the car and hold and finance it on my own books to get a few percentage points on my margin? I know many of the dealers you list and have done business with some of them, as far as I can tell, any of them will sell cars for commission. So what? It's a sensible business decision.

I guess you really need a two stage poll:
1. Have you done any business with XYZ.
2. Were they good. bad or indifferent.

if not you'll just get a popularity contest.

jg

 

You could write all the negative feedback on this forum about Verdi's and KHPC onto a pinhead.

Try searching the archives, there was a thread a few months ago on this very subject.

 

In my search I spent a fair bit of time at KHPC speaking to Arthur. Did not buy from then in the end, but I drive the 70 miles to them (each way) when the car needs servicing as I was so impressed by the warts and all attitude..no bs there. Will almost certainly ask them to source my next car for me.

 

(should mention I finally bought from a dealership in Germany and drove the car home!)

 

I bought from NC's and he was good. Yeah he was more expensive than most, but the car was immaculate - I even had Arthur at Kent say he knew my car, and NC's had sold you an excellent model.

You get what you pay for. I went to Rosso Corsa, Verdis etc. & even the main dealers, and just couldn't find the car. Look for the car and not the dealer - should be priced accordingly no matter who its from.

These cars should be known through the trade. It can't be that difficult to get the backround on the car before you buy.

 

I too have bought Ferrari from Arthur at KHPC, first a Mondial and then traded it in for a Testarossa. Both cars have been serviced there and the TR is currently with KHPC for a lengthy repair job following damage done to it in a car park -but that's another story which I shall post, with pictures, when the mess is cleared up.

Their workshop is quite fascinating because as well as a large range of Ferraris, they also service Lamborghini, although I have never seen one for sale in their showroom.

As I have never dealt with any other dealer, I can't make a comparison. All I can say is that they inspire enough confidence that I entrust every aspect of maintainance to them and if I were to consider changing cars I would approach them in the first instance.

 

I bought my Fcar from a main dealer, but i've heard nothing but good comments on Kent High Performance. I've been in a few times and they have always been very helplful. They were even recommended by Maranellos in Sevenoaks who did state they were the only specialist stamp they would recognise in the service records if they were going to take an Fcar as part ex.

Just my twopenneth

 

Oh, and dont forget Bob Houghton Racing in the Cotswolds, very highly rated. That brings it up to 20!

 

Not quite, Sant Agata is bust, back to 19.

 

steveirl (I think it was) had a very good experience with Mike Wheeler at Rardley Motors and I know of others too for both sales & servicing

To some extent which dealer depends on what car you (angelboy) are looking for - different people on the list have differing areas of expertise

 

ok, Rardley Motors...back to 20! Don't know anything about them though, but were mention in passing while talking to KHPC

 

You only need another 99 opinions like mine to reverse this one...

I bought my F355 from Talacrest. They were very helpful throughout, not at all pushy, and I thought their cars were top quality. A number of people on this site have seen my car and I'm sure would agree that it is a good one. It was a commission sale. If I remember correctly, the previous owner had bought an F40 through them and also had his 360 challenge track car with them for sale, plus a maserati spyder(sp?)). Hell, he's probably reading this... !

I'm not that far away from Talacrest, so Guy Tedder kindly came to my place of work so that I could have a look at documentation for the car during negotiations. Guy reads FChat so Guy - I hope you appreciate my comments!

At no point was any hard sell applied. I was even told during the test drive that just because it was a Ferrari didn't mean I would like it - "they don't appeal to everyone" - I hadn't driven one before you see. I was also advised by them to drive more than one - "they don't all feel the same".

I drop in to Talacrest now and again for a mooch around - their cars always seem to be well presented and never look like they've been dressed up. They don't carry a lot of high mileage dogs, and when they do have a high mileage car it seems to be priced correctly.

I would say price-wise they are at the higher end of the independant spectrum (but not the highest), but they are still waaaaay more reasonable than a main dealer. Their level of service, condition of the vehicle, and work agreed as part of the sale justified the price of my car in my opinion.

I have had the 18k service done there too. It was fairly expensive, but certainly not extortionate. I didn't feel like I'd been ripped off - but they don't do fixed price servicing so you're in their hands to an extent. The work was high quality and the engineer obviously takes time to do things properly. To give you an example, I had a tubi sport pack put on the car, which includes air filters. When I had the 18k service done, they replaced the tubi filters with Ferrari ones - I forgot to tell them not to do that. So when I picked the car up I had them swapped back and they refunded the money for the unused filters. I watched as they put the Tubi filters back in, and the mechanic very carefully aligned the screw head slots on the air boxes with the edges of the air box. This is the sign of someone who obviously takes pride in their work.

I have nothing bad to say about Verdi's either, but I have only dealt with them on the service side. When they installed my Tubi air filters, they also aligned the screw heads in the same way as I described earlier, so same comments apply. Karl gets a lot of positive comment on here - search the archives for more. I've never been dissatisfied with their work, it is always done properly and never bodged. You would not believe how long they spent getting the alignment of the exhaust pipes right on my Tubi. Furthermore, Karl knows sooooo much about these cars it is unreal.

Ric.

 

Do any of these dealers actually 'check out' a car before they put it on their books to sell ?

 

Paul

after all that - what F Car are you looking for?

 

I don't think you'll have any hassles dealing with Verdi or Nick Cartwright, if they have the car you're looking for (and as someone has mentioned, this is what counts).

Do searches on here and perhaps pistonheads for the other names.

Warranties can be applied by most places, but check and double check what's covered. Ask for specific inclusions (electrics? aircon? suspension?) and warranty claim caps (many have a single claim ceiling that would not get you very far if the engine or gearbox shagged).

Further, bear in mind that getting money out of warranty firms can be a nightmare - even if it's from a main dealer.

Don't necessarily rule out main dealers either. They can sometimes have some decent stock on at sensible prices if they're itching to clear stock. Just note that cars will often be newer and will pretty much always have FFSH, hence a price differential should be expected to one degree or other.

Whatever you buy, get it checked out by someone else who knows what they're doing (e.g. buy from one of the above, ask to get it checked it out by one of the others...).

Finally, I would expect someone selling a car SOR or otherwise to check it out first. It wouldn't take too many basket cases to screw someone's reputation.

 

You can include C.S.O. in Chester on the positive list, we may have only been going for a few months, but do ppi all our stock before putting it on sale (and include the ppi report in our sales brochure), and offer a full 3 month warranty (ok thats enough of the free plug!)

the dealer question in my opinion really should be an easy one, if the car is well prepared and advertised and the new owner does a ppi there shouldnt be any problems no matter from whom you buy, the problems only start when ppi's havent been done and the cars have been tampered with by the dealer,
Clocking, false history etc, all very very easy to do with Ferraris especially by smaller part time "home traders" for whom a quick buck is very tempting, you turn up to a nice house look at a shiny car and go home woth a complete dog, as the trader changes names and numbers frequently its very very hard to get legal satisfaction.

 

I too bought my 348tb from Talacrest - a very positive buying experience! Guy was very helpful and recomended I visit other dealers to get a feel for the model.

Q

 

I bought mine from Forza 288 and can honestly say that Dave Miller is as straight as die, genuinely knows about the cars and he has never let me down once, (even changed some wheel nuts on my car when I called in to see him recently because he thought they needed doing {free of charge} ).I know this is only my personal opinion but I would have absolutely no hesitation in recommending him (and no I'm not on commission).
If you speak to any dealers IMHO you should ultimately go with your gut feeling, as if it feels right it usually is. Whatever you decide hurry upand buy it, you're delaying the day when your face explodes into the biggest grin you will ever experience in your lifetime.
Good luck.

 

As Jimmie said in an earlier post my experience with Mike Wheeler of rardley Motors really was first class, I had been lookin for a boxer for six months with the 512TR also a possibility. Karl at Verdi was indeed very chatty and told me to forget the boxer and buy a 512, but many promiises of arranging to view the "best 512 in the UK" were never fulfilled, Nick Cartright also had a car but it had been stored for two years which rather put me off, Mike wheeler of Rardley had nothing but promised to look out, he always stayed in touch by phone and email even with nothing on the horizon, and eventually found a car which he said was expensive but was also one of the best, even now he still stays in touch and has forwarded me several books he has found as they feature my car(it was originally the FerrariUK demonstrator). He also keeps a database of f cars and knows more than most about what is out there.
Call him and talk b4 deciding
steve

www.rardleymotors.com

 

First 2 cars came via Joe Macari. I know Joe through my own business & all my dealings with him have been very easy. He always presented the cars well & described them accurately. Both of these were serviced at his garage in Wandsworth, again good service & quality of work. I would not hesitate to recommend.

Joe’s also excellent at finding the unusual, his workshop almost always has a real exotic tucked away in the corner!

Next one came from Maranello’s, again my dealings with them were very good. I found them there staff helpful but not “pushy”. If you wanted to browse they were happy to let you look around, If you had questions they were willing to help.

My current car came from KHPC. Again could not fault their service. Arthur was very helpful & honest about the cars that were on offer. As to criticism about having only SOR cars, if they only stock cars that are PDI’d and meet a strict standard, what’s the problem?

The car was recently serviced, again at KHPC and it was completed, on time, to a good standard at a reasonable price. Again I was perfectly happy with the service.

My only other dealings are with Foskers, without detailing the problems, I would not return, but that is purely based on my own experience.

 

For what it's worth, I'm currently looking for a car and have had good vibes from or positive recommendations for

Nick Cartwright
Mike Wheeler ex Talacrest now Rardley
Forza 288